Steal This Drill: Aggressive Movement Following Serve

Have you ever hit a decent serve just to be caught flat-footed by an even better return from your opponent? If so, here is a simple drill to help you with your post-serving movement. One of the reasons why we are often caught unprepared following a serve is due to the way we practice serves: out of context. We move and work on our groundstrokes but serving is often done in a vacuum - that is, hitting basket(s) (plural - when the student is motivated) of serves at the end of the workout. This type of practice does not prepare us for the ball coming back to us after the delivery of the serve. 

One way to practice is by playing points - however, merely playing points will not focus the workout for what we need most - quick, explosive steps. In the drill we are proposing, a line is marked 1-2ft inside of the baseline. After each serve, the player must step in, touch the line and immediately retreat behind the baseline. After warming up, the players play points where one person serves and must touch the line and the other returns. This drill forces the serving player to be aggressive with his serve (i.e. follow the ball in) and then immediately retract behind the baseline and rally. The returner is encouraged to hit aggressive returns deep into the middle of the court in order to jam the server. The players can then play out the point. This drill is also a good way to practice "faking" the serve-and-volley play (i.e. pretending to come in and tricking the opponent to hit a short ball which is then used as an approach shot). 

Steal This Drill: Disguised Serves

Learning how to disguise your serve in order to catch your opponent by surprise can be a tricky proposition. It is often difficult for us, as players, to practice an efficient disguise because, prior to striking the ball, we know exactly where we intend the ball to go. As a result, we often give the serve away by adjusting the toss and preparation just slightly in order to hit the target. 

One way to practice the disguise - that is, having the preparation be exactly the same for every serve - is to practice the serve while the coach is behind you calling out the target in the air. For example, set up three different targets: wide; middle; and T. When the ball reaches the apex of your toss, the coach calls out "wide" or "jam" or "T". S/he tries to mix up the signals so that no pattern is established. Once you get the hang of it, the player can practice the slice, top-spin, flat or kick-serve in the same fashion. 

Practice disguising your serve and you will have the element of surprise on your side. After mastering the basic drills, do it under pressure. For example, put something on the line where if you are within 3 feet of the target you run a brief sprint or do some kangaroo jumps. This will not only get the heart racing but will make serving practice competitive and exciting. 

Steal This Drill: 1-up 1-back variation

We've all done this drill: one player (coach) is at the net, the other is at the baseline. The net player moves the baseline player around the baseline thereby providing him with repetition and the opportunity to work on good footwork (due to shorter reaction time). There are a few downsides to this drill including (1) the baseline player is hitting against a ball that has little topspin (i.e., unrealistic for a run-of-the-mill baseline exchange); and (2) the baseline player can get winded pretty quickly (resulting in a practice of poor quality). 

To break things up, the net player should not only move around at the net and force the player to guide the ball towards various targets but he should also try to provide the baseline player with some top-spin shots. How does one achieve this from the net? The answer is that the net player can volley into his side of the court first and then, after the ball clears the net, it strikes the court on the baseline player's side of the court as well. That is, imagine a ping-pong serve where the ball must bounce on the server's side of the court first and then on the receiver's side. This action cause the ball to pick up some topsin from the ground which is then translated into a topsin shot on the baseliner's side of the court. With some practice, the net player can master various heights, depths and spins.

In another variant, the baseline player can try to take some of these ping-pong shots out of the air (i.e., before they bounce on his side of the court) or use these shots as put-away shots. In the latter drill, the net player/coach can feed a follow-up volley. It's amazing what can be achieved with some imagination. 

Playing Your Best(ie)

As an athlete participating in an individual sport, one of the most difficult things to handle growing up is playing against your best friend or doubles partner. The opportunities to practice against your peers are fairly limited - what with everyone having their own private coach and development that is heavily reliant on lessons.

Few things are as traumatic for a young player as finding out that they have drawn their best friend, doubles partner or practice partner in the first round of the tournament. Knowing that one of you will go home and the other will go on can be quite nerve-wracking. However, as with bad line calls, rain delays, lack of warm-ups at a myriad other tennis issues, this one of those things that a player will have to learn to deal with in his/her life. After all, if you want tennis to be easy, trying playing against the ball machine with the net down. That's as easy as it gets. Master your nerves and you may just learn to utilize these skills later in life (e.g. attorneys who have graduated from the same class facing each other in court). 

Here are some skills to assist you in dealing with the overwhelming emotions:

1. Does your best friend pay your bills? In other words, do you owe him anything? No?! Good. Then there's no reason to give him any more deference than any other opponent. 

2. Regardless of who is on the other side of the net remember that,  in tennis, you are really only playing the ball; ot the opponent (Bobby Knight: "You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball)". Think of your best-friend opponent as an amalgamation of strokes: top-spin forehand; two handed backhand; kick-serve; weak volley; etc. Ignore the face and focus on his strokes and game-style. Figure out how to beat the game-style and stop worrying about the fact that you're about to beat your best friend. If you need help figuring things out, write a couple things about your friend's game-style (likes/dislikes) and read it over a couple of times.

3. The day before the encounter tell yourself: "I'm going to play the match tomorrow; I'll let her play the match tonight." In other words, don't lose the match before you've had the chance to spin for serve. Without a doubt, your opponent is as uncomfortable about the situation as you are. Let her sweat the match the night before. Take your mind off the match by focusing on other things that need attention (maybe cleaning up your room or reading a good book). Since you've played this person many times before, getting a good night's sleep is superior to fretting about the strategies. You know (or should know) what works and what doesn't (see #2 above). 

4. To relieve some tension, you can try calling (or texting) your opponent and tell him something along the lines of "whatever happens tomorrow, you mean a lot to me and I have a great deal of respect for you. Any c'mons or les'gos are nothing personal." This will releave a great deal of tension during the match and you are likely to have a more positive experience. 

5. Similar to #4, there's nothing wrong with applauding your friend's efforts during the match. The better he plays, the higher your own level. By laying well, he is actually doing you a favor by pushing you outside of your comfort zone. In the end, regardless of who loses, both of you will walk off the court better players. Playing against your BFF is also a great opportunity to practice sportmanship (which will make you a better person). As stated by Heywood Broun: "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." 

6. Remember that, whatever happens, this will not be the end of the world. You will have many opportunities to compete against your friend so it might as well happen tomorrow. If you stick with this game for long enough you may even room with your friend in college and drive with her to tournaments where you may end up playing each other again. Learn to enjoy it. It will make you a better person. 

Who Am I?

A sense of inadequacy often compels us to ask ourselves "who am I?" This is as true when it comes to tennis as it is with "real" life. When faced with a tough or unknown opponent we are often forced into a corner where we have to question our identity. This is particularly true at the higher levels of the game where opponents are not easily labeled into neat and manageable categories. For example, it may be tempting to generalize a player like Nadal as a baseliner but give him a mid-court shot and watch him follow the approach to the net for a put-away volley. Similarly, players like Isner and Karlovic can defend like the best of 'em. 

Therefore, when facing an opponent without glaring weaknesses or weapons, it is often advisable to focus your analytical energies inwards. Don't worry so much about who they are; try to figure out who YOU are. How do you like to win points? What kind of points make you comfortable? Close your eyes and go to your "happy place" where you're playing your best tennis. What types of shots are you hitting? Do you see yourself scraping more? Putting volleys away? Blasting shots from inside the baseline? Etc.

Once you figure out who you are as a player, imagine your game as a tree. The best game that you can possibly play is the tree trunk. The various branches are off-shoots of your main game... slight variations on your various game. Imagine, for example, that you're an attacking player who is facing a solid opponent. You try your "main game" - perhaps serve and volleying - but it doesn't pay the dividends that you desire. Does this mean that you are going to discard your "game style" and completely switch tracks? That may be a good play once in a while. However, a better play would surely be to figure out all the other ways in which you can continue your attack. Maybe a straight serve-and-volley play is not effective because the adversary nails her returns at the service line. Great! How about serving, stepping into the baseline as if you're going to come in, then taking the short ball from the opponent with an approach shot and following THAT ball to the net (3-shot play)? Can you imagine other ways in which you can attack? How about one of Henri Leconte's favorite plays which was to hit a drop-shot and follow the ball and punch the volley past the opponent to just managed to scramble to the ball? Or how about hitting a heavy topspin lob and sneaking in when the opponent backs up to the fence (the "ten and under play")? Alternatively, work the opponent around 5-6 shots before you capitalize on the opening (don't get discouraged just because the routine 2-3 shot combination is not working)? So the lesson is: 1. figure out who you are and what you like to do with the ball; and 2. imagine all the slight variations on the game that you can implement against this particular opponent. Rather than thinking in terms of "changing your game", think "refining" or making "slight adjustments" to fit the particular situation. You will be more effective when sticking to the proximity of your bread-and-butter play than trying a game style that is diametrically opposed to your comfort level.